TEHRAN, 20 January 2005 — Iran accused the United States yesterday of trying to disrupt its nuclear negotiations with the European Union by evoking the threat of a military strike, and strongly warned Washington it would respond to any “unwise measure.”

“With reliance on enormous popular support, diplomatic capacity and full military capability, the Islamic Republic of Iran will firmly respond to any unwise measure or plan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement responding to “recent comments by US officials”.

On Monday, US President George W. Bush said he could not rule out a resort to military action if the United States failed to persuade Iran to abandon a nuclear energy program it charges is a cover for developing the bomb. Iran vehemently denies that it is developing nuclear weapons. “I hope we can solve it diplomatically, but I won’t ever take any option off the table,” Bush told US network NBC. US Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday called for world action to keep Iran from building nuclear weapons, and repeated a threat to haul Tehran before the UN Security Council for sanctions.

“We see such moves as a psychological campaign and political pressure,” Asefi said. He said one of the aims of the US administration was “not to help and encourage Europe to peacefully settle some disagreements through diplomacy and talks, but to disrupt the Iran-EU nuclear talks by pretending they are unsuccessful.”

The EU “Big Three” — Britain, France and Germany — have been spearheading diplomatic efforts with Iran and are in the midst of crucial talks aimed at finding a long-term solution that would ease international worries.

The Foreign Ministry statement also followed a report in the New Yorker magazine Monday that US commandos had been operating inside Iran since mid-2004 to search out potential targets for attack — something the magazine said could come as early as mid-2005.

The Pentagon said the report was “riddled with errors.” Iran also dismissed the report, asserting that “American commandos are not able to enter Iran so easily to spy.” “It would simplistic to accept such an idea,” said Ali Agha Mohammadi, a spokesman for Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “We know our borders,” he added, also dismissing the report of US covert actions as part of a “psychological campaign” directed against Iran’s clerical regime and “not even worth thinking about”.

Influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also declared late Tuesday that Iran would not be intimidated by “foreign enemies” and cautioned Washington against dreaming of an attack.

“We are not afraid of foreign enemies’ threats and sanctions, since they know well that throughout its Islamic and ancient history, Iran has been no place for adventurism,” Rafsanjani, a possible contender in the June presidential election, told the state news agency IRNA.